


Order Araneae

by MonkeyBard



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: 221B Ficlet, Prompt Fic, Spiders
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-17
Updated: 2014-07-17
Packaged: 2018-02-09 08:07:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1975398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MonkeyBard/pseuds/MonkeyBard
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There's just something about humans and spiders.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Order Araneae

**Author's Note:**

> **Prompt 17: Truth is stranger than:** Use [one of these articles](http://www.bbc.co.uk/search/news/?q=victorian+strangeness) as your inspiration for today's work.  
>  **A/N:** I chose [this bit of Victorian Strangeness](http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-magazine-monitor-27246823) and as a companion piece I chose [this modern article](http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2024088010_spidermanxml.html).

John shook his head over his laptop screen. "All that drama over a spider."  
  
Sherlock didn't look up from where he sat on the sofa with his own computer. "Arachnophobia can cause all sorts of irrational behaviour. Although I admit this fellow had a fair reason for his extreme reaction."  
  
"You really think what he did was reasonable?"  
  
"No. I said it was 'extreme,' but he couldn't control himself. Small-minded people simply don't have the capacity."  
  
"I agree with you there. Sort of."  
  
"Ah, but you do not have a fear of spiders."  
  
"No."  
  
"And as such, how would you expect to respond in the same circumstances?"  
  
"With a shoe, probably. Or a rolled-up newspaper. Certainly not with an improvised blowtorch."  
  
Sherlock looked at him quizzically. "What are you talking about?"  
  
"Some idiot in Seattle who nearly burned down his house with spray paint and a lighter just to get rid of a spider in the laundry room. What are _you_ talking about?"  
  
"A man who, in 1897, was trapped in a tarantula-filled train car and driven mad. He woke in a hospital in Portland, Oregon, where he was 'recovering from an attack of insanity.'"  
  
"That's not nearly as ridiculous as this one." John fell to musing. "Was there anything _else_ in that train car with your bloke?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Bananas."


End file.
